Dumbest question of the year — so far

In the aftermath of Denny Hamlin’s victory in the NASCAR Sprint Cup STP 400 he faced the media and was asked, maybe, the dumbest question of the year, so far.

Hamlin was asked: Did you feel for Martin Truex Jr. after being so strong and not winning the race?

In case you did not know, Truex had a strong race in the No. 56 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota, leading the majority of laps before being passed with 30 laps to go by Hamlin in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

So my question is what was Hamlin supposed to do: Let Truex win?

Of course not. In any case Hamlin answered the question with the skill of a politician in the making.

“You know, at the end it’s a no-lose situation for myself because I’m a fan of Martin’s; I’m a fan of Michael Waltrip, and they’ve really done some great things with that program,” he said. “But, my job is to win for my guys and really drive as hard as I can to get them those wins because they’re so hard to come by now that you have to just do everything you can.

“And I knew that he was driving his heart out as well as I was driving mine. Once I got to the lead, I felt like I got a little bit complacent mainly on corner entry, just being careful.

“But, what got me the lead was driving hard, and so I needed to get back to that, and that’s kind of where we were able to stretch it out.

“It was a good day for Toyota because Michael Waltrip Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing have a bond that’s working better and better together obviously with the common engine package and everything, so we’re starting to see these Toyotas start to make a run.”